Now that #PlosBiology has joined 🦣, I thought I’d share the editorial that I wrote upon joining the journal in March 2020 where I discussed my vision for its future
Let me know what you think!
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000707
@npariente A wonderful statement of editorial policy, lots to agree with, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one: “the role of selective journals as a means to access the most important advances remains crucial”. For me, journals lost long ago any relevance towards discovery of new, relevant or exciting new findings. First pubmed search, then google scholar, now the above plus recommendations in social media channels. Journals remain as reputable organizers of peer review, but even that is fading with the rise of preprint servers plus overleaf journals, or reviewing entities such as #reviewcommons and now #eLife.
@albertcardona so pre the new eLife model
@npariente Thanks for the invite, happy to do so someday. Since (I think) you are based in Cambridge, that should be easy.
On curation in general: I support the distiller's movement/view aiming at addressing the "research debt" http://distill.pub/2017/research-debt/
The distillers argue that, given the sheer volume of research–with which nobody can cope or hope to catch up with–, an optimal way to absorb it, particularly when field-adjacent, is to read compendiums, "distillations", that bring together and contextualize findings in the field. In other words, arguing for periodically updated text books or annual reviews which are more like the `diff`. Likely requiring professionals dedicated to the task–a new type of academic, or at least to formalize a role that up to now hasn't been recognized as essential.
@albertcardona I am (based in Cambridge) and we should (go for a drink sometime)! I was talking with Kat Brown, from COB, the other day about re-starting the #OpenScience drinks that were apparently regular in Cambridge pre-pandemic and pre my time at PLOS. Hopefully more on that soon
@albertcardona @npariente #OpenScience drinks? Count me in! Always keen to talk and learn more.
@albertcardona one to chat about over a beer/glass of wine? I think that, in whatever form, curation will remain important, as the sheer volume of what is out there will prevent most people from reading everything on a given topic to decide what to build on. Also people coming into new fields may not be able to determine what they can build on. Journals are places where this curation occurs (though not the only ones) - also this was written in 2020.